Heel lift fastener



July 19, 1966 MANZE 3,261,115

HEEL LIFT FASTENER Filed Dec. 2, 1965 4 m 47 2336 34 4 46 BY F/G.2 F/G.6W

ATTORNEYS.

INVENTOR.

652/125 M M/Wzz United States Patent 3,261,115 HEEL LIFT FASTENER GerardM. Manze, 721 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE., Atlanta, Ga. Filed Dec. 2, 1965,Ser. No. 511,145 3 Claims. (Cl. 36-34) This invention relates to heellift fasteners or dowels that are used to secure a lift to the heel of aladys shoe.

Ladies shoes are normally formed with an elevated heel port-ion underwhich lies a normally tapered heel forming a substantially verticalopening for receiving a dowel or heel lift fastener to which is secureda heel lift or wearing tip. Heel lift fasteners presently in use aremolded heel lifts of plastic or other similar resilient materials inwhich the replacement of the heel lift entails the removing anddiscarding of the previously used heel lift fastener and substituting ofa new one.

It is an object of the instant invention to provide a heel lift fastenerwhereby a Worn heel lift may be removed and replaced.

Another object of the instant invention is the provision of a heel liftfastener having a flat plate which may be supported by the lowermostportion of the heel and which carries a plurality of perpendicularlyextending prongs for impaling a heel lift thereon.

A still further object of the instant invention is to provide a heellift fastener having a substantially circular plate which may besupported by the underside of the heel and which carries a plurality ofdownwardly extending prongs adjacent the circumference thereof forimpaling a heel lift, the circular plate acting to preclude deformationof the heel lift during use.

A further object of the instant invention is to provide a heel liftfastener which may be inexpensively manufact-ured.

Other objects and advantages of the instant invention, as Well as theinvention itself, reside in the combinations of elements, arrangementsof parts and features of construction and operation, all as will be morefully pointed out hereinatfer and disclosed in the accompanying drawingwherein there are shown preferred embodiments of this inventive concept.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a ladys high heeled shoeillustrating in dashed lines the shank of the heel lift fastener of theinstant invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of one form of heel liftfastener of the instant invention;

FIGURE 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the heel lift fastenerof FIGURE 2 taken substantially along line 33 thereof as viewed in thedirection of the arrows and illustrating the knurls facilitating thesecurement of the lift fastener in the heel of a ladys shoe;

FIGURE 4 is a bottom view of the heel lift fastener of FIGURE 2 as maybe seen from along line 44 thereof viewing in the direction of thearrows illustrating a plurality of spaced apart prongs for receiving aheel lift or wearing tip;

FIGURE 5 is a modified form of the shank of the heel lift fastener ofFIGURE 2 illustrating a plurality of knurls extending substantiallythroughout the length of the shank;

FIGURE 6 is a partial side elevational view of another form of heel liftfastener of the instant invention illustrat ing another form of securingmeans for receiving a heel lift;

FIGURE 7 is a bottom view of the heel lift fastener of FIGURE 6 and maybe seen from along line 7-7 viewing in the direction of the arrows; and

FIGURE 8 is a bottom view of still another form of heel lift fastenerillustrating another type of connecting means for receiving a heel lift.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, wherein like referencecharacters designate like elements throughout the several views thereof,there is indicated generally at 10 a ladys high heel shoe generallycoventional configuration having a sole 12, a toe portion 14, a footreceiving opening 16, a heel portion 18 under which is positioned a heel20 forming an opening of predetermined size into which may be secured aheel lift fastener of the instant invention. As will be more fullyexplained hereinafter, a heel lift 22 is secured to the base of a heellift fastener positioned in the opening of heel 20 providing a wearingsurface therefor.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, there is indicated generally at 24 a heellift fastener of the instant invention having a substantially straightcylindrical shank 26 forming a sharpened point 28 at one end thereofwith a plurality of outwardly extending knurls 30 on the outer surfaceof shank 26 and longitudinally extending along a small portion, as shownin FIGURE 2, or throughout substantially the entire length of shank 26,as shown in FIGURE 5.

A flat circular plate 32, of larger diameter than shank 26, isperpendicularly coaxially aflixed to the other end of the shank andcarries three prongs shown generally at 34 for impaling heel lift 22thereon. Prongs 34 include a straight segment 36 perpendicularly affixedto plate 32 and extending away from and parallel to shank 26 with athree-cornered sharpened point 38 being formed on the free end thereof.

It has been found that the heel lift fastener of the instant inventionis particularly advantageous since a cobbler may readily replace heellift 22 with a piece of hard scrap leather or the like rather thanhaving to purchase the entire fastener as is necessary in theutilization of premolded heel lifts. It will be apparent that the use ofpremolded lifts entails the purchase of the entire fastener which mayamount to a considerable sum. Another useful feature of the heel liftfastener of the instant invention is that segments 36 perpendicularlydepend from plate 32 thus substantially precluding the inadvertentbending thereof during the impaling of heel lift 22, as is common withinwardly and outwardly angled prong segments.

Referring now to FIGURES 6 and 7, another form of heel lift fastener isillustrated generally at 40 including a substantially straightcylindrical shank 42 which is broken away for purposes of illustrationwith the unillustrated upper end thereof being configured as shown inFIGURES 2 and 5. A fiat substantially circular plate 44 isperpendicularly secured to the lower end of shank 42 and carries aplurality of prongs shown generally at 46. Prongs 46 include a straightsegment 48 perpendicularly secured to plate 44 adjacent thecircumference thereof with a two-cornered point 50 being formed at thelower end thereof.

Referring now to FIGURE 8, there is shown a bottom view of another formof heel lift fastener designated generally at 52 having a cylindricalsubstantially straight shank 54 secured to a flat plate shown generallyat 56 which includes three equally spaced apart radially extendingsegments 58 each of which perpendicularly carries a prong showngenerally at 60 having a two-faced point 62 thereon. Although the heellift securing means of fastener 52 is operative, it should be pointedout that the configuration of plates 32, 44 provides a substantialadvantage over the spaced apart segment configuration of plate 56. Theadvantage resulting from the circular nature of plates 32, 44 is thatthe heel lift secured on the prongs extending from the plate will not bedeformed by walking. In the utilization of the configuration shown inFIGURE 8, the heel lift will tend to deform depressing between segments58 thus creating an uneven surface on the bottom of the lift.

It is now seen that there is herein provided an improved heel liftfastener having all of the objects and advantages of the instantinvention and others, including many advantages of great practicalutility and commercial importance.

Since many embodiments may be made of the instant inventive concept, andsince many modifications may be made of the embodiments hereinbeforeshown and described, it is to be understood that the foregoing is to beinterpreted merely as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A longitudinally extending reinforcing heel lift fastener of hardmaterial for a relatively fragile heel comprising:

a substantially straight cylindrical shank having a sharp point at oneend;

a plurality of outwardly extending knurls, on the outer surface of theshank, longitudinally extending along at least a portion thereof;

a flat plate perpendicularly aflixed to the shank at the other endthereof and extending beyond the confines of the shank; and

a plurality of prongs perpendicularly afiixed to the plate outwardly ofthe dimension of the shank, the prongs extending away from and parallelto the shank.

2. The heel lift fastener of claim 1 wherein the shank, ribs, plate andprongs comprise a unitary piece of material.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein the plate is of circularconfiguration with the prongs being positioned adjacent thecircumference.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,041,744 7/1962Brauner 3634 3,055,125 9/1962 Ronci 3634 3,119,192 1/1964 Ronci 3634FOREIGN PATENTS 1,238,402 7/1960 France.

FRANK I. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

1. A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING REINFORCING HEEL LIFT FASTENER OF HARDMATERIAL FOR A RELATIVELY FRAGILE HEEL COMPRISING: A SUBSTANTIALLYSTRAIGHT CYLINDRICAL SHANK HAVING A SHARP POINT AT ONE END; A PLURALITYOF OUTWARDLY EXTENDING KNURLS, ON THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE SHANK,LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING ALONG AT LEAST A PORTION THEREOF; A FLAT PLATEPERPENDICULARLY AFFIXED TO THE SHANK AT THE OTHER END THEREOF ANDEXTENDING BEYOND THE CONFINES OF THE SHANK; AND A PLURALITY OF PRONGSPERPENDICULARLY AFFIXED TO THE PLATE OUTWARDLY OF THE DIMENSION OF THESHANK, THE PRONGS EXTENDING AWAY FROM AND PARALLEL TO THE SHANK.